1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to oil and natural gas production. More specifically, the invention is a system and method for fracturing within a limited range or within a specifically-desired direction within a hydrocarbon production zone.
2. Description of the Related Art
In hydrocarbon wells, fracturing (or “fracing”) is a technique used by well operators to create and extend fractures from the wellbore into the surrounding formation, thus increasing the surface area for formation fluids to flow into the well. Fracing is typically accomplished by either injecting fluids into the formation at high pressure (hydraulic fracturing) or injecting fluids laced with round granular material (proppant fracturing) into the formation. In either case, the fluids are pumped into the tubing string and into the formation through ports disposed in downhole tools, such as fracing valves.
Some productions zones present particular difficulties due to their thinness. For example, a particular zone may be only ten, fifty or one-hundred feet thick, presenting only a thin layer of formation in which to drill a lateral wellbore. Moreover, fracing vertically past (i.e., either above or below) the production zone can allow the introduction of production impediments into the production zone, such as if, for example, a volume of water is positioned above and within the fracing range of the tool. Fracing past the production zone vertically downward presents the possibility of providing an egress path out of the production zone.